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2022-23 Bolton Wanderers F.C. Season
<- 2021-22 Bolton Wanderers F.C. Season -> 2023-24 Bolton Wanderers F.C. Season The 2022-23 Season is Bolton Wanderers' second consecutive season in the Premier League, following a nine year absence from the top flight. Along with the Premier League, Bolton will also compete in the FA Cup and EFL Cup - the latter being three-time defending champions. Wanderers' will compete in their second season in the UEFA Champions League following their second-place finish last season in the Premier League. Due to their inexperience in UEFA competitions, their UEFA coefficient will be low meaning they'll be in Pot 4 for the UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco. The season covers the period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. Season history August The league season began with two difficult fixtures - Liverpool at home then a trip to the Etihad. The Reds trailed 1-0 at half-time but were annihilated by 4 second-half goals. The result was a 5-0 victory over the Merseyside club - Nery's biggest over Liverpool. This result would mean that Bolton would once again be at the pinnacle of the English football pyramid, meanwhile Liverpool were at the foot of the Premier League. Seven days later, last season's runners-up faced the team that had pipped them to the title last season and had won the last 5 Premier League titles in a row in a early contender for match of the season. It was second versus first, the Blues versus the Whites, it was Manchester City versus Bolton Wanderers. Kicking-off at 7:45, the chilly and snowy Manchester weather would be the backdrop of this big game. Ryan Gravenberch would open the scoring for Bolton as he struck a well-timed pass by Diego Rossi into the top-right corner at the half-hour mark. However this lead would go as City would score on either side of half-time, goals from two compatriots, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva. 4 minutes later, Wanderers would equalise through Connor Hall, scoring his second of the season. As it seemed both teams would come out with a point, Bolton would steal the three points at the death. In the 91st minute, a corner whipped in by Diego Rossi found Gravenberch and he buried it past Ederson to ensure a first league victory over the champions in more than a decade. This left Bolton with 6pts out of 6 meanwhile City fell to 11th place. The next two games would be against bottom-half opposition, West Ham and Aston Villa. The Hammers took the lead twice through Hugill and Hughes however Wanderers equalised through Connor Hall and substitute Ezequiel Barco. Nine minutes from the 90', Bolton's first-choice talisman Connor Hall scores the winner - condemning West Ham to 17th place and no points. A trip to Villa Park followed, Ryan Gravenberch and two from Ezequiel Barco open the account for Wanderers : having a 3-0 lead after 55 minutes. Despite a consolation from Hogan for Villa, Bolton take the three points - the monly team to have 12pts out of 12. Ryan Gravenberch won Player of the Month as he scored four and assisted four in four starts. Meanwhile, Enrique Nery won Manager of the Month as Bolton won 4 from 4, including victories versus Liverpool and Manchester City. September Bolton continued their winning run against a visiting Arsenal, who were 10th in the table. The first half was dominated by Arsenal, however they only scored once through Gabriel Martinelli - taking a slender 1-0 lead into half-time. A Nicolas Pepe sending-off turned the game upside down. Goals by Hall and a brace from Barco turn it around and seals their fifth consecutive league victory. This result meant Bolton had beaten the Gunners for the first time since 2011. On 14 September, the new Champions League campaign began with the visit of Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund to the Etihad Stadium (due to the COB not up to UEFA regulations). ''A brace from Julian Brandt gave Dortmund a 2-0 lead into half-time. However, Wanderers equalised with goals from Luna and John-Jules. A brace from Hlozek confirmed the win over Dortmund. Starting the UCL Campaign with a home win. 3 days later, a visit to the King Power followed. Brendan Rodgers' team languished in sixth after a mediocre start to the season. Bolton raced into a two-nil lead after a tense first half thanks to a brace by Gravenberch. However, they managed to equalise through Divock Origi in 87th minute. This ends the club's 100% winning start to the season. In the third round of the League Cup, the holders faced the Blades at Bramall Lane. An emphatic 4-0 victory sealed the club's progression to the Round of 16. Barco, Llarena and Hall all scored in a 3-0 win against nineteenth placed Fulham three days later. The month was ended by a trip to Moscow, to face CSKA. Despite taking the lead in the 21st minute, they went into the break, trailing 2-1. Despite an equalizer from Schulze fifthteen minutes from time, a stoppage-time winner from Dzagoev condemned the visitors to a shock defeat, leaving them third in the group. ''Ezequiel Barco won Player of the Month as he scored four and assisted one in four appearances. '' '''October' Molineux hosted a clash between first and ninth on the first day of the month. Bolton dominated with the visitors coming away with a three-nil win: goals from Llarena (2) and Barco. After the international break, the Clarets visit the COB, two from Hall and one from Schulze secured the three points despite a consolation by Wood. On 18 October, the Wanderers faced a mammoth task in travelling to the Bernabeu in their third Champions League group game. The 13-time UCL Champions opened the scoring on 16 minutes: with Karim Benzema striking the ball into the top-right corner after Saliba miscontrolling the ball and leaving Benzema in a one-on-one situation with Smarsch. However, three minutes later, Ezequiel Barco hit a strong shot past Thibaut Courtois to level the scores. Real hit on the counter and Lucas Vasquez ends an elegant passing move with a tap-in. This leaves the score 2-1 to the hosts at the break. The Bernabeu was in shock as the visitors raced into a three-two lead as Barco & Gravenberch scored rapidly after the break. The remaining 40 minutes were nervy and filled with tension but at the final whistle, Bolton Wanderers came out with a victory against Real Madrid. This win put them atop the group table, Madrid fall to second. Bolton continued their fine form, beating Brighton & Hove Albion 6-1 on 22 October, their fourth win in all competitions. Connor Hall opened the scoring in the fifth minute. He added another 10 minutes later, Max Bird (assisted by Hall) scored the third. Trossard pulled one back for the Seagulls to make the score 3-1 at half-time. Bolton's talisman would get his hat-trick with twenty minutes left. Bird and Hall would add the fifth and sixth to finish the demolition of the hosts. This put them a point clear of Man City. A much-changed Bolton team defeated Aston Villa in the fourth round of the League Cup, with hopes of an upset being quashed after Castillio equalised after a Mings header in the 15th minute. Goals from Schulze and Graham sealed the club's progression to the quarter-finals, in which they were drawn to face Newcastle or Sunderland at the COB. On 29 October, Bolton faced Tottenham Hotspur, an important game for both sides as both were looking to win the title come May. The match was a tense encounter in which Connor Hall broke the deadlock on the 16th minute, rolling the ball past the goalkeeper. Ten minutes later, Harry Kane equalised with a superb strike, latching onto a ball from Eriksen. This shifted the momentum onto Spurs - which they used by scoring in the second minute of extra time before the break. With Willi Orban heading the ball past Matthews. Tottenham added to Bolton's misery by scoring a third through S. Korean international Heung-min Son after the hour mark. At full-time, boos rang out at the COB due to questionable calls by referee Michael Oliver. This result condemned Bolton to drop to second place and gave the club its' first loss of the campaign. Connor Hall won Player of the Month as he scored seven and assisted two in four appearances. November The club continued their UCL adventure by hosting Los Blancos on 2 November, it ended in a rout. Before the half ended, Bolton were 2-0 up, thanks to John-Jules and Alberto. In the remaining 45 minutes, it was dominated by Tyreece John-Jules: scoring three more, in turn, completing his hat-trick. Bolton's terrible performance continued as they succumbed to one-nil defeats versus Everton (home) and Newcastle (away). In a post-match interview after the Newcastle game, Nery expressed his frustration at the current dismal league form: "I am absolutely frustrated and I have no bloody clue why we have performed absolutely terrible these past two games. I am angry, and we must do better, much more better in our next game, if not, the players will be punished." A break from the league, a trip to Borussia Dortmund would follow on 22 November. A 5-0 thumping would result in Bolton's qualification for the Round of 16 and they'll finish top of their group. Dortmund would drop to third place. Five days later, Bolton suffer a fourth consecutive defeat in the league - putting more pressure on the players and calls for Nery to be sacked were getting bigger. An 88th minute winner for Crystal Palace at the COB condemned Bolton to remain in fifth: their worst position in the Premier League since Nery took over. Ending the month, with back-to-back-to-back defeats. This is the worst league form under Nery. On 30 October, Bolton beat Newcastle 3-0 to progress to their fourth consecutive EFL Cup semi-final - this relieved some pressure off of Nery. December The month opened with a trip to Old Trafford. Both teams had suffered a slump in form prior to this game: Bolton languishing in fifth while United were in seventh. This was an important game for both teams as they look to qualify for Europe. The first half was dominated by Wanderers: controlling possession and having most of the shots. They translated this control by scoring two goals: Ezequiel Barco (17') and Diego Rossi (33'). A revival from United was on the horizon as they started the second half much better however was caught on the counter many times by Bolton. One of these counterattacks lead to the third and the winner of the game; Borja Llarena scoring in the 56th minute. United tried to get back in the game however Bolton got all three points from the City of Salford. On 7 December, Bolton finished the group phase of the Champions League as group winners. Their final group game was at home to CSKA Moscow. A brace from N'Diaye caused the hosts to trail at the break. Immediately, John-Jules pulled one back, 20 minutes later, Schulze equalized to ensure that the game would have a nervy end. In the dying minutes, substitute Llarena scored the winner, sending the Etihad into raptures. Three days later, Bolton hosted the Stamford Bridge outfit, Chelsea. In a battle between fifth and fourth. Bolton knew if they won, they would go atop Chelsea in the table, on virtue of goal difference. Meanwhile, Chelsea would go six points clear of the hosts. It was billed as a very back-and-forth game, however, it was far from it. the game became the Connor Hall Show. Within the first half, he scored a hat-trick to give Bolton a formidable three-nil lead heading into the break. Hall scored a fourth in the seventieth minute, either side of two consolations by Luis Alberto and Inaki Williams. It ended 4-2 to Bolton, however they dominated every stat of the game. They went above Chelsea due to a vastly superior goal difference. Five out of six clean sheets in six wins would round off the month. Consecutive 3-0 wins, against Stoke and Bournemouth, would put the club into third place, five points off second-placed Tottenham. An away trip to St. Mary's followed. The game seemed as if it would end goalless: with both sides wasting the chance to go in front. In the 92nd minute, Hall fed Moya, who went one-on-one with Angus Gunn. He went round the keeper, scoring the winner and making it five league wins out of five. Selhurst Park served as the venue for an unusual Christmas Day clash. It was third versus seventeenth. The visitors scored four, as they did last season. But this time, they didn't concede four, only one. The game finished 4-1 in favour of the visitors. This put Bolton three points behind Tottenham, who drew 3-3 against Aston Villa the day before. The next league game would be against Newcastle. The game was a dull affair however Bolton got the three points by win two-nil. This continued the chase for second place, currently occupied by Spurs. The month was ended by a satisfactory performance in the third round of the FA Cup. Beating Charlton Athletic comfortably 4-0. Victory came courtesy of a John-Jules hat-trick and a solo effort by Schulze. Connor Hall won Player of the Month as he scored eight and assisted six in seven appearances. Meanwhile, Enrique Nery won Manager of the Month as Bolton kept a 100% record (7 from 7), including victories versus Man United and Chelsea, also Bolton kept 5 clean sheets in the 7 games. January Bolton kicked off 2023 with an impressively comfortable 5-1 away victory against Tottenham in the League Cup semi-final first leg. Apart from a consolation from Eriksen, Bolton remained rampant throughout the game. On 7 January, the Saints visited the COB 11th in the table. The hosts were the favourites to get the three points from this encounter and possibly go second. However, Bolton suffered a shock defeat, losing 3-2 after an unconvincing performance. Rossi fired Bolton into a quick lead after three minutes but that disappeared when Mayoral equalized 4 minutes later. Sloppiness at the back lead to the hosts falling behind as David scored just fifthteen minutes in. 15 minutes later saw Bolton equalize through Diego Rossi. But in the second half, the lack of intensity lead to David scoring his second and Southampton condemning the club to its fifth league defeat of the season. This meant they missed the opportunity to move up to second as Tottenham lost 3-1 to Arsenal in the North London Derby at the Emirates Stadium. A week later, a trip to Merseyside followed. Goodison Park hosted an important game. If Bolton won, they'd go five points clear of Everton and could even go second if Tottenham slipped up. Meanwhile, if Everton won, they'd overtake Bolton in the table and cement their place in the top four. It was a battle between fourth (hosts) and third (visitors). But the game was nothing near to being close. It was six-nil hammering by the Wanderers. A hat-trick from Alberto, a brace from Hall and an effort by Bird sealed the three points and caused the gap between the two clubs to grow to five. They kept pace with second-placed Spurs, who they would play in their next league game. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hosted a new but intense rivalry. The Lilywhites of London faced The Whites of Manchester. It was no repeat of the 5-1 demolition handed out by the league champions fifteen days ago. It was a tense affair, a box-to-box game. However in the 24th minute, Hall struck to give the visitors an important lead. Bolton went into half-time with a slender advantage. February March April May Competitions Premier League League Table © Champions ® Relegated * Since the winners of the EFL Cup (Bolton Wanderers) and FA Cup (Manchester City) both qualified for European competition based on their league positions, the European spots for those competitions was passed down the league. Results by matchday Matches FA Cup EFL Cup UEFA Champions League Group table Results by matchday Matches Squad Goals record Assists record Clean sheets record Transfers Transfers IN Transfers OUT Loans OUT Overall transfer activity: 'Expenditure: '-£54,450,000 'Income: '+£14,850,000 'Net Total: '-£39,600,000